The obvious response to the allegation that Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis used a deer-antler extract containing the banned substance IGF-1 is that Ray Lewis has never failed a drug test.

“Every test I’ve ever took in the NFL? There’s never been a question if I’ve even thought about using anything,” Lewis proclaimed Tuesday.

The team said the same thing. “Ray has been randomly tested for banned substances and has never failed a test. He has never been notified of a failed test,” declared the Ravens.

But here’s the thing. The NFL tells PFT that IGF-1 can be detected only through blood testing. And there’s currently no blood testing for IGF-1.

So passing a drug test has nothing to do with the question of whether someone was or is using IGF-1. It’s no different than a player responding to allegations of HGH use by declaring that he’s never failed a drug test, since there still is no testing in place for HGH.

Thus, absent an admission from Lewis or other conclusive evidence of IGF-1 use, there’s no way this thing will ever go anywhere.

Where was this ever going to go anyway? In a few days Lewis will retire and be out of the League. And don’t even think for a moment that Goodell would really suspend him from the Super Bowl. That’s totally unrealistic.

If Lewis had been a longtime user of this deer antler stuff, then he would not need to ask the seller how to use it. One of the previous articles contain quotes about Lewis asking if he should just rub it on his elbow…when it was supposed to be sprayed under the tongue. I kinda assume he is new to the product….

I don’t doubt for a moment he did take this but who cares. Of all the things the players will be on this Sunday this is one of the least offensive ones. I don’t like Ray Lewis (though I do think he is the best LB of his generation) but is this really a big deal? All this drug does is make you heal faster. I think ALL players should be allowed to use to rehab, afterwards tested for it but that would take blood tests. Blood tests are also required to detect most of the modern PEDs. You could all out 90% of these guys on these things.

So sorry to disappoint all of the haters. Media, fans, people who don’t know football but make ignorant “murderer” comments all of the sudden, even though nothing was uttered for a decade prior to this week…

Too bad, so sad your story and excuse making doesn’t check out or live on, and there is nothing negative to say about these ravens. Move on.

Dang it, i was gonna go get my liscense and hunt me some deer. Really doesnt work?
Its all natural, of course it doesnt. Otherwise ther would be a huge market for it!
but if its not allowed its not allowed and that is simply just cheating. Sucks that this came out now, but i think its old news, i remember this was actually just a prank wasnt it?
well guess some will remember this super bowl being about how someone was cheating and not how the niners won it, but dang it id take that over nothing all day!
maybe someone will rerun the story about moss’s dislocated finger, its got more sizzle than all this stuff about how they fix their bodies to go out and earn their pay!!

Then one foggy Sunday Eve Harbaugh came to say, Ray Ray with your Nose so bright wont you lead this “d” tonight. ? Then how the ratbird fans loved him , as they shouted out with glee, Ray ray the brown nosed cheating linebacker, you’ll go down in history!

Another false accusation against a man the media can’t bring down. They wanna call him a cheater, a murderer, and a faith driven cry baby but they don’t wanna say it to the mans face. Can’t wait until #52 hoists the lambardi one more time to show the world what hard work and strong faith can produce. #ravennation #unmovable

The NFL doesn’t test for IGF-1 and therefore cannot levy a punishment. If you honestly expect a professional athlete to avoid a substance that might provide an advantage with zero possible repercussions, I have some beachfront property in Oklahoma you might be interested in.

One guy was looking to get his name out there before the superbowl so he set out some bait and the media took it hook, line, and sinker.

If you want to compete at the highest level of sport (any sport where extreme size, strength, speed, and/or endurance are required), you must take PEDs or you won’t make it. I couldn’t care less about Ray Lewis taking drugs to get on the field. Everybody in the NFL is taking something at some point.

I really hope they don’t start blood testing because honestly I can’t see how a human being can get through 21 weeks of hell without a “banned” substance just look at them and the way they work out your body needs rest which most of these guys never get

Ray is not a murderer. He just helped his buddies get away from the scene of the murder that they committed.

The only thing he’s killing is his team. He’s been sucking up a roster spot for the last four years riding this “best LB of his generation” BS. Hell, he’s not even the best LB on his TEAM. The guy has been a complete non-factor in the playoffs (dropped a gimme turnover), and his entire contribution to the Super Bowl is annoying storylines that either blow smoke up his butt or sniping at him.

It’s not a hater thing — even you Ravens fans have to admit he’s a tiresome bore at this point. I just want to see the tight shot of his face when the Ravens are down by 17 and the clock goes to 00:00. Then, like all football fans, I never want to see Ray Lewis or hear his name ever again.

Apparently this is yet ANOTHER area that no one at Media Day is qualified to ask about. Shoot, according to Ray, his drug tests have proven he hasn’t even THOUGHT about doping!!! ” Every test I’ve ever took…” I can’t wait to hear him in his new job as a “journalist.” Not many people can make Emit sound as though he can speak the King’s English!!

First off, let me say that I think that he knows what happened exactly in that murder case 12 years ago, and I wouldn’t doubt that knowing this would be his last hoorah, that he took a borderline substance, knowingly, to get back on the field one last time. Guarantee that 75% of the league is playing these same games with the banned substance list.

That said, I can’t understand this witch-hunt the media has been on since the Ravens made the championship game. Why is everyone trying to prosecute this man in the court of public opinion?? Easily, the most respected player in the game, immensely positive influence on his teammates, the organization, the league, and, most importantly, his community. It just all feels like “HATE” to me. For some reason, the media would rather search for any negativity surrounding 52 than focus on the positive that he produces, on and off the field.

Good luck this weekend Ray and in your post football life. You are a testament to the fact that one can overcome their darkest moments and see success again.

Enough already. Lawyers are bad journalists, journalists are bad medical writers, and the big shots at NFL central, it seems, are bad at nearly everything.
Why do you keep wasting column inches on a non-story?
We’re sorry for your loss–your Steelers fainted, get back to writing news, Florio.

The NFL may not be able to punish Lewis for use of PED but as far as I’m concerned…this puts an asterisk next to the Ravens Superbowl Run or Superbowl Win if they win. If Lewis did not play guarantee things would be different.

Banning certain “peds” but there is no test for them..that makes sense…some guy and reporter making the charge on media day…sure..no agenda there…putting holograms on your elbow to make it feel better…that makes the most sense of all of this witch doctor stuff and story…nice try to the reporter and Mark Ross…nothing is going to get done even if they are right..

Lets hear the tape. This is the so called smoking gun that this guy has on Ray. SI didn’t ask for it to make this story a big one before the big game. Without being biased as I clearly can be, I heard on NFL Network that this Ross guy or one of his employees tried to force his products onto a reporter. Let alone the Senior Bowl fiasco. Because its Ray, how we are quick to belive the accuser over the accused, he is guilty until proven innocent. The tape would’ve been the press this guy wanted. Why didn’t that leak so all media outlet could get at this guy? But he has instant credibility.

“Lewis had not talked to media for 10 weeks while he rehabbed his injury. Asked by SI if he had worked with Key and Ross during his recovery, he initially demurred. “I didn’t work with them personally this time,” he said.
When pressed, Lewis said, “Nobody helped me out with the rehab. I’ve been doing S.W.A.T.S. for a couple years through Hue Jackson, that’s it. That’s my only connection to them.”
Asked if he had talked to Ross the night of his injury, Lewis replied, “I told him to send me some more of the regular stuff, the S.W.A.T.S., the stickers or whatever.”
And did they help?
“I think a lot of things helped me.”
So would he suggest S.W.A.T.S. to other players?
“If I did, I would’ve done said it by now,” Lewis said. Asked specifically about the spray and the pills, Lewis walked away without comment.”-From the Sports Illustrated article on the Lewis drug matter

So let’s get this straight: everyone believed the saints when bounty gate came up because there was no proof other than the word of a man with something to lose. But people can’t use the same logic here? A guy with a failing company who wants pub during media week suddenly comes out to throw ray under the bus and all he has is a video recording allegedly talking to ray. No proof of sale since he “gave it to him free” and no proof he actually used it. But yes he totally must have done it because this guy is honest and believable.

Truth? You people hate ray and need a reason to attack him. It’s easy to believe something negative about someone you’ve already formed an opinion on. Just ask Big Ben.

After I read the story and half the comments, I asked myself who wrote this story? I bet mike florio wrote this, it has his name all over it! Sure enough. Always stretching for a non story huh mikey? Let it go man. you try too hard to be Adam Schefter!!

Great way to promote a company. Create an allegation based on a videotaped phone call. How does that work? Do you actually here A voice on the other end of the call or is just a one way conversation? Does not prove anything. Also recording a conversation without both parties consent in Maryland is a crime. The media gets their story, the company SWATS gets PR and regardless who is accused they have no defense. Love or hate Lewis this story is bullsh*t. The only crime maybe by the self serving source.

Who cares if he used it, they don’t test for it, everyone in the nfl uses something, whether its to help them recover from injury or to speed up their play. There’s no way Peterson didn’t use HGH or something similar to help him recover no way. And if these guys want to use it who the hell are we to tell them no? We get a tooth pulled and are looking for anything and everything to take the pain away or help it heal are we supposed to believe or expect a football player who takes the amount of abuse on a weekly basis as they do to just drink vitamin water and some Tylenol? Give me a break, if it was considered cheating amongst the players they would complain to their owners or the nflpa but they don’t because they all use something. People who watch the sport from their couch and congress who do nothing of any importance should keep their noses out of it. It’s not like these guys are blowing lines of coke on the sidelines (not anymore since Taylor retired) or shooting heroin in the locker rooms. The same congressman bitching about players taking HGH is also probably addicted to pain killers cause of a wrist sprain from 5 years ago….enough, let the players play however the hell they want to.

I would be more concerned about protecting the people of Miami after ray lewis retires than I would be about ray lewis taking PED’s. As we have seen, ray lewis has already killed two people and is very capable of killing many more.

It does not exonerate him, but the testimony of a man who has gotten a ton of free advertising by implicating a player with no real evidence does not indicte him either. Can you at least mention that the guy who waited till the superbowl to realease this to the public could have other motives?

The situations involving Ray Lewis just continue to show how imbalanced we are as a sports loving country. We have a story that comes out yesterday in baseball where everyone takes the time to lambast Alex Rodriguez again for PED’s (however no one really got on Nelson Cruz, or Gio Gonzalez for that matter), and here we go with another situation involving Ray Lewis. It seems that the NFL, the media, and everyone around him once again want to push this to the side as no big deal. Although it may not be, it just goes to show if everyone loves you, their first initital reaction is to cover things up for you, or to push something to the side. This happened for Lewis before with his murder charges, and on a lesser scale it happens again now. Just goes to show that in sports the talk is always about this guy cheated, that guy cheated blah blah blah, but in reality we just want to find a few whipping boys in each sport to try and prove a point, so we can leave a few above any sort of accusatory or negative reaction.

This guys legacy just keeps unraveling. No he will not miss the Super Bowl but afterwords when he retires we can probably count on more dirt to come out on this guy. So he may win on last ring but there should be some doubt that he’ll get the gold jacket in 5 years.

It’s sad as a ravens fan from Baltimore seeing all the negative media about this team. If its not something in their past it is something they said. Get over it, this is about playing a game on Sunday. Also, we know most people outside of Baltimore are hoping for 49ers win and that’s fine, but to see even the media pulling for them is sad.

This whole thing just seems like bs. It sounds like the manufacturer leaked this story for publicity to get more sales. I never heard of dear antler extract. I visited three web pages yesterday that sell it.

Hate on haters. Get the excuses ready. Tell me how Ray Lewis shouldn’t of played. Tell me how Joe Flacco isnt an elite QB. Tell me how the Ravens dont deserve to be in the superbowl. And when they’re hoisting the Lombardi, I’ll be here to say I told you so.

Personally, I dont like Ray Lewis. He seems fake in character when I compare the man to his words.

That being said, who started the rumor? That is more important than anything else in this story. Ovbiously Ray Lewis hasnt been bragging about taking PEDs. There has been no proof other than “It was reported”. So, who reported it, and who did they hear it from?

I would never run with a story like this if I were writing on sports. It appears to be a witch hunt when no evidence is produced. Yet no apology will be required if evidence is produced to refute the claim.

Why are we letting our Media turn into one of those trash papers at the grocery store checkout? It isnt just sports and entertainment either. Even world and political news is presented on the same platter as some movie star getting impregnated by an alien. We eat it all up and ask for seconds. Sad state we are in in the USA when slander and lies are presented in an obvious fashion, and we accept it as good journalism. All news is presented with a slant now, and we think it is the greatest time for open news coverage. Writers only write about what they want you to hear. It is ruining the country.

Keep hating… Ray Lewis will be on the field Sunday when they hoist the trophy!!!! Oh and yeah, no testing of blood does exonerate him, because now it’s a he said/she said story that no one can win… You think Goodell is going to suspend Ray Lewis for his last game with no concrete evidence?

How else does a guy stay in the league for so long with a body many younger players would kill to have? You also can’t tell me he and Adrian peterson have superhuman healing powers. These guys aren’t Wolverine.

Why should Ray Lewis get a pass? At least Rodney Harrison was man enough to admit using HGH in the offseason to heal from his injuries and get back on the field.

Lewis truly believes he is above mere mortals and especially above the even-lower-ranking media who apparently are not even qualified to ask him any questions.

Testing for HGH was supposedly agreed to by both sides as part of the new CBA, but I knew there would be foot-dragging. Too many well-known veteran players use it but the league wants to look the other way so it can still appear as if it’s trying to keep the league clean.

I honestly can’t believe that this has gotten so much attention and that SI is pretending these guys are credible.

They say it’s not their job to prove their products work, but it’s up to science to prove they don’t. Umm, in the article, they have scientists demonstrating that it doesn’t work.

They have an alleged video of the conversation. Is it a fancy light beam video where you can see and hear the other person is hundreds if not thousands of miles away?

Take a second look at the article people and actually read the whole thing. These guys are preying on gullible athletes who are willing to do anything to get an edge. Who cares if Ray took it? It doesn’t work and they can’t prove he took it. Time to focus on the game.

All of you clicking thumbs down on anyone who thinks this a ridiculous story, get over it. You all have been wanting every reason to bring Lewis down. Deer antler spray is now this is writer as well as your white bronco moment. It’s amazing….that’s rhetorical….that this story comes out the week of the super bowl but not earlier when people such as favre were connected to this company. As the great Nipsey Russell would say, “riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight”.

And I thought Patriot fans were entitled. Ravens are going to get smoked on Sunday. CK7>RG3 and Baby Harbaugh>Big Bro Harbaugh.

It’ll be fun watching Ray-Ray get outplayed by Bam-Bam as he trails behind Vernon Davis trying to run sideline to sideline. The best will be seeing baby-bottle juice teeth T-Sizzle trying to run Gore and James down on his one good leg.

Don’t be fooled…….it’ll be a smashmouth game but only one team will be doing it.

I know this may be a dumb question…but why is IGF-1 on the NFL banned list of substances if the only way it can be detected is through blood testing which is currently not approved to be done in the NFL????

I am a Raven hater (Redskin fan!) but this is ridiculous that this is coming out now and that it has become such a big story.

Leave the story and Ray alone. Let him play his last game and let him go out quietly.

The reality is 80-90%, if not more, of NFL players use HGH. The league knows this and has no interest in pushing to get the test approved by the players b/c they want to avoid the public backlash.

Honestly, as opposed to steroids which I think most of us can agree are terrible to use, I’m not really that offended by HGH. It doesnt make you stronger or perform better than you otherwise would, just makes you heal faster.

Wes Welker’s wife hit the nail on the coffin..
Ray Ray is a pathetic human being…But in a God forsaken crime and drug ridden town like Baltimore, he is worshiped..Only in America ! after the Ratbirds lose, Ravenator goes MIA…thank God…that girl is beyond annoying

Hate on haters. Get the excuses ready. Tell me how Ray Lewis shouldn’t of played. Tell me how Joe Flacco isnt an elite QB. Tell me how the Ravens dont deserve to be in the superbowl. And when they’re hoisting the Lombardi, I’ll be here to say I told you so.

Being a true Ray Ray jock sniffer and over all Raven fan boy we all know you have your excuses written down in easy rapid fire order to post on Sunday. Be sure to include , the antlers hurt his performance and the bright lights froze him…..cheers.

Stop being one sided and post the article from the Baltimore Sun where they interviewed a Hopkins doctor who said IGF-1 cannot be delivered with a spray. But you won’t do it because it would ruin your agenda.

“Ray is not a murderer. He just helped his buddies get away from the scene of the murder that they committed.”

Then he’s an accessory to a murder and should be in jail. Seriously Ray Lewis isn’t a good man he doesn’t deserve to go out on top of anything.

I don’t mind the Ravens team I respect Harbaugh, Ed Reed, Ray Rice etc. But Ray Lewis? I don’t think anybody should like a guy who was clearly associated with and likely participated in a murder that he didn’t have to spend a minute in prison to pay for doing.

As a lawyer, you should be promoting scientific evidence, not speculation; real facts, not red herrings.

Let’s assume he used the SWATS products. The scientific evidence is that IGF-1 cannot be absorbed by the body from such a product. See the Hopkins doctor’s report. Why do you not talk about that, instead of continuing to make insinuations that he can’t prove his innocence based on allegation of someone who has shown he is a scam artist?

How does this differ from asking you to prove you have stopped beating your wife?

Seriously?? Sounds like mudslinging to me. Only reason this came out was because of ray lewis in the superbowl. Now, what players will ever work with s.w.a.t.s.? That business will dry up now. Nobodys gonna use their products, knowing the company will toss out names for no apperent reason. Gotta love how they’re tryin to take lewis down, and muddy-up his rep and legacy. These people must be 49’ers fans.

I have a feeling this story is going to have a very big impact on the NFL. Not necessarily on Ray Lewis, but on the league’s testing policy. While MLB has been hammered for players using PEDs, the NFL has kind of skated by.

Did you know that there where 185 NFL players listed in the Mitchell Report?

With the concussion controversy in full swing, the NFL isn’t above criticism right now. (Like it has been over the past decade.)

I can see major steps being taken to cut down on PED use in the NFL before next season.

I want to give Ray the benefit of the doubt here and assume he is innocent on this one. But the back of my mind is nagging me that if it were all untrue, Ray would be suing already for defenation or slander. When a person is innocent that’s usually the first thing they do.

@shlort I wish I could thumbs up that statement a thousand times. Yellow journalism is not a new concept, but it has really taken off with this technology boom. It is sad that the dumbest opinions tend to be the loudest.

Is this Ray Lewis bash week? He’s retiring and moving on with his life just like millions of other people have. Is he the only guy in the whole super bowl thats had a problem or two? What next does he get up on the left side of the bed? The case he has to live with just like those guys families do but EVERYONE in the world has never done anything wrong, SMH!

Ho many of Ray Lewis defenders were about to crucify Lance Armstrong 2 weeks ago?

Let’s say that Tom Brady was taking deer-antler extract to play against the Ravens in the AFC Championship. I’m pretty sure most of you would say that it is ok for Ray, but not for Tom… probably because Ray is Ray and Tom is not Ray… I can’t see another reason…

Drug testing is the biggest farce in sports. IT’S AN IQ TEST! You have to be completely..stupid (I won’t make the same mistake as Flacco) to fail a drug test. If you know what you’re putting in your body and you know how long it stays in your system, from the time you get tested, you will pass.

Just because these athletes pass drug tests doesn’t mean they’re not on something. What a load of you-know-what.

as always folks….dont let the facts get in the way. some clown said someone did something but has no proof to back it up. but since its about someone i dont like it must be true. ridiculous. thanks for everything ray and go ravens